J. H. Patel Profile

J. H. Patel Biography

J. H. Patel is an Indian politician who served as the 15th Chief Minister of Karnataka from 1996 to 1999. His full name was Jayadevappa Halappa Patel and was born on 1st October 1930 in Kariganur in Lingayat family. He was graduated in law and married Sarvamangala and had three sons named Trishul, Satish and Mahima. He was preceded by Deve Gowda and was succeeded by S. M. Krishna. He belonged to the Janata Dal party.

He took part in Indian freedom struggle and was imprisoned several times for taking part in the Kagodu Satyagraha. He was also imprisoned during the Emergency period. He was elected to Lok Sabha for the first time from Shimoga in 1967. He spoke in Kannada in the Lok Sabha which is the first time in the history. He was encouraged by the speaker of Lok Sabha, Sanjeev Reddy. Though Indian parliament has been in existence for 17 years at that time, J. H. Patel was the first member to speak in a regional language.

In 1978, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly from Channagiri constituency. He was elected for the second term in 1983 and under the Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde, he served as the cabinet minister. He served as a minister in the S R Bommai’s government and was the deputy chief minister in 1994. When Gowda became the Prime Minister, he succeeded Gowda as the Chief Minister of Karnataka. He recommended the dissolution of the state assembly six months before the assembly polls in the year 1999.

J. H. Patel was a good orator and a nonchalant leader. He could withstand the criticisms and could dismiss them off cheerfully. He was ardent follower of Ram Manohar Lohia. He was the president of Karnataka unit of Janata Dal. He faced many turbulent situations in his political career after the split in Janata Dal. He remained in JD (united) and the JD (secular) was led by Deve Gowda. In the last election that he faced, he was defeated by Vadnal Rajanna. He died on 12th December 2000 at Manipal hospital at Bangalore.